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A category for articles and categories relating to episodes of Boardwalk Empire. Episodes are further subdivided by season. They should not be listed in this category but by the appropriate season subcategory, see:

Contents

On the eve of Prohibition, Atlantic County TreasurerNucky Thompson condemns alcohol at a Women's Temperance League meeting, where he is seen by Margaret Schroeder, a pregnant housewife who later comes to him for help in getting her alcoholic husband Hans a job. But Nucky is duplicious and that same night he privately shares with his ward bosses, his brother SheriffEli Thompson and the Mayor of Atlantic City a plan to make huge profits selling bootlegged liquor. At a Countdown to Prohibition party at Babette's Supper Club, Nucky assures Jimmy Darmody, a recently returned WWI vet and former protegé of his, that his appointment as "Man Friday" to the new Chief Clerk of the Fourth Ward, Paddy Ryan, will lead to bigger and better things. Jimmy, however, has higher aspirations - as well as a lack of patience - and ends up making a deal behind Nucky's back that could have dire consequences for the both of them.

Nucky is paid a visit by straight-arrow Agent Nelson Van Alden, who feels that Nucky has pinned the recent shootings on a scapegoat (Hans Schroeder). Nucky utilizes his brother Elias' position as sheriff, to visit Hans' widow Margaret Schroeder in the hospital and help do some damage control. Nucky receives a visit from Margaret before heading out for a night on the town, as she has come to return the hush money Elias had given her. She asks for his help providing for her young children, but through an honest job. After an incident involving Al Capone's beating of a reporter in Chicago, Nucky contemplates the upcoming election with his aging mentor, Commodore Louis Kaestner...

Jimmy Darmody now works for Al Capone's Chicago boss, Johnny Torrio, and lives in a brothel Torrio runs. Capone and Darmody attempt to strongarm a bar owner manager to buy his liquor from Torrio; when he is uncooperative, Capone beats him. They meet with Torrio's rival, Sheridan, and compromise on business arrangements. Torrio is more impressed by Darmody's negotiation than by Capone's brutality. One of Sheridan's men retaliates, attacking and disfiguring Jimmy's current girlfriend Pearl, a prostitute in Torrio's brothel.

In Atlantic City, as Nucky plans his "surprise" birthday party, he worries about the political impact of the murder of Chalky White's driver. Eli delivers the leader of the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan to White, who tortures him until he is satisfied that the Klan was not involved in the killing. At Nucky's party, Senator Edge tells Nucky he will not receive expected roadbuilding funds needed to complete Atlantic City's development, which will go instead to Frank Hague...

Margaret wakes to see ward boss James Neary's men offloading beer barrels into a garage behind her house. She meets Nucky on her way to work, but he disappoints her with his sudden aloofness. After discussing the garage at a Temperance League meeting, Margaret and a colleague manage to meet with Nucky, who promises to take action but does nothing. Margaret sees the deliveries again that night; brushed off by Neary and ignored altogether by Thompson, she reports Neary's garage to Van Alden. The agent initially dismisses the operation as one of hundreds in the city, but she catches his interest by mentioning that Neary works for Nucky Thompson...

AldermanGeorge O'Neill makes his collection rounds along the boardwalk. He visits a Chinese restaurant near to the Cafe Beaux-Arts, counts the money into a leather pouch and then crosses it off his list. He is approached by Pius D'Alessio who insults him, spits in his face and then runs off. O’Neill gives chase and as he rounds a corner Ignacious D'Alessio steps out and hits him in the head knocking him out. Ignacious steals the pouch full of money and leaves O’Neill to wake up to seagulls circling above him.

Nucky Thompson and Lucy Danziger share a poscoital embrace at the Ritz Carlton Hotel. He is dozing as she asks him what makes him feel good and worries about his faithfulness. She describes herself as a little tiger cub and rakes her nails down his chest, drawing blood. The pain brings Nucky to annoyed wakefulness. He tells her to calm down, puts on a robe and goes to the bathroom. She smokes a cigarette, alone...

Nucky and Eli's father is becoming increasingly frail and losing his independence. Returning to his childhood home causes Nucky to ruminate on his violent, unhappy upbringing. Jimmy attends a veteran's hospital due to increasing pain from his battlefield injury. He meets Richard Harrow, a veteran sniper with a horrific facial injury. Jimmy recruits Richard in a plan to kill the gangster who cut Pearl's face. Lucky Luciano starts a collaboration with the D'Alessio brothers to harm Nucky. Nucky burns his father's house down to finish with the past.

Nucky visits Chicago for the Republican National Convention, where he finds himself intrigued by the candidacy of Warren G. Harding over more established candidates, despite the fact that he meets Warren's mistress and bastard child. He promises Harding's manager the votes of the New Jersey delegation in exchange for blocking Senator Edge's nomination for the vice-presidency, knowing that his former ally has secretly sided against him in funding new roads for Jersey City rather than Nucky's own Atlantic City.

Nucky stops by Johnny Torrio's brothel looking for more information on Harding. As Nucky talks to Torrio and a local judge, Jimmy comes downstairs and runs into his old patron. Nucky behaves coldly towards Jimmy, criticizing him for never writing his family. It is revealed in the episode that Internal Revenue agent Van Alden, still working out of Atlantic City's post office to investigate Jimmy, has been intercepting the steady stream of money and letters Jimmy sends to his wife...

A wounded Eli identifies the D'Alessio brothers as the men who robbed the casino and shot him. On the boardwalk, Margaret talks to Warren Harding's mistress, Nan Britton, whom Nucky has brought along from Chicago. Nan explains how she and Warren met and how, in order for him to win the presidential election, he cannot support her and their child.

Margaret and Nan go to Madame Jeunet's to buy a dress for Nan. Madame Jeunet asks Margaret to persuade Nucky to reduce the exorbitant rent he charges. At first, Margaret broaches the issue directly, but this only angers Nucky. Taking a different tack, she then tells Nucky she is worried about not looking good for him if Madame Jeunet leaves. This works, and when Madame Jeunet gratefully offers Margaret a dress for her daughter, Margaret instead uses her newly found influence to get a more expensive dress for herself...

Continuing the plotline from the last episode, Richard Harrow is now staying at the Schroeder house, although his face injury is scaring the children. Agent Sebso is sent home to rest over the protests of Van Alden, for killing Billy Winslow supposedly in self-defense. Jimmy has taken up residence with his family and attempts to reconnect with Angela. Rothstein chides the D'Alessio brothers and Mickey for not doing enough research on Nucky's butler, Eddie, and for shooting a civilian during the failed assassination attempt.

Agent Van Alden continues to probe deeper into the killing of Billy Winslow, prompting Agent Sebso to make a call to Nucky asking for some leads to regain his boss's trust. Looking for a still, the two encounter a black church's river baptism. When Sebso, who is Jewish, puts in for a transfer to Michigan, Van Alden brings him to the river to be baptized. However, Van Alden holds Sebso under the water too long, drowning him. Whether Van Alden planned the murder is left unclear...

Agent Van Alden has requested a transfer out of Atlantic City, although his supervisor asks him to reconsider. The Commodore's maid admits she tried to poison him because of his mistreatment. Nucky lets her leave Atlantic City quietly over the protests of the Commodore. Nucky is increasingly stressed about the election, which the Democrats stand a good chance of winning. Chalky White offers to deliver the black vote for $10,000, a new car, and an invitiation to the (whites only) Election Night victory party...

Nucky is rocked by an insurrection among his inner circle; Chalky's life and livelihood are threatened by a vicious KKK attack; Margaret copes with her son's disciplinary problems; Angela vies with Gillian for Jimmy's affections at home; Van Alden shows his wife Rose around town as an anniversary present. Written by HBO Publicity...

Valentines Day starts abruptly for Margaret when she wakes to news of Nucky's arrest for election fraud. While government agents are busy searching for evidence in Nucky's office, Margaret makes a bold choice to help him by disguising herself.

In New York, Jimmy decides to expand his business visiting an old adversary Arnold Rothstein for a proposition. Unfortunately for Darmondy, Rothstein decides to pass but Charlie Luciano and Meyer Lansky wait in the wings to pitch their own business proposal for Jimmy over some poker...

At a birthday party for Mayor Bader, Nucky's attorney has a legal brainstorm that could turn the tide in Nuck's election-rigging case. Facing a local liquor surplus, Jimmy and Mickey head to Philadelphia in search of buyers, while Nucky strikes an unlikely deal to get booze into Atlantic City. Eli frets over the Commodore's ability to lead; Margaret doles out staff bonuses; Chalky is cornered at work and at home; Owen puts his munitions expertise to work; Van Alden's agents target Mickey's warehouse; Richard lets down his guard in the name of art; Gillian recalls her "first time" with the Commodore...

On Memorial Day Nucky Thompson and Jimmy Darmody both give successful speeches. After, Jimmy and Eli Thompson meet with the memorial committee, who are The Commodore's financial backers in the coup against Nucky. The committee have lost faith in the plan and are concerned by The Commodore's absence. Jimmy is unable to reassure them, then Jackson Parkhurst strikes Jimmy with his cane, bringing the meeting to an abrupt end.

Nucky gets the favor he wanted from Attorney General Harry Daugherty — assistance with his legal troubles. In return he will repay Daugherty with a day's entertainment. Eli visits Nucky at home, desperate to back out of the coup. Nucky refuses to help him, they get into a brutal fight which is broken up by Margaret Schroeder holding a shotgun to Eli's head...

Margaret Schroeder prepares her son for first communion necessitating a confession of her own to set an example. She admits impure thoughts for Owen Sleater but says nothing of her arrangement with Nucky Thompson. Nucky's election fraud troubles return when a senator pressures the Attorney General to pursue a conviction. At the hospital Nelson Van Alden teeters on the brink of professional and personal confessions as his suspicious subordinate slowly succumbs to third degree burns. Lucy Danziger gives birth alone. Jimmy Darmody is surprised when Lucky Luciano is protecting the liquor shipment he goes to hijack; instead of completing the hijacking Jimmy decides to follow advice from a new source and partners with Luciano to take over Nucky's entire bootlegging operation...

Nelson Van Alden is unable to pay Lucy Danziger for the custody of their baby as they agreed. He is also put out when a new prosecutor, Esther Randolph, takes over his office to work on the election rigging case against Nucky Thompson. Lucy goes to Nucky for help with the baby, she explains that Van Alden is the father and Nucky gives her money. Nucky uses the information in an attempt to blackmail Van Alden into spying on Rudolph. Lucy leaves the baby with Van Alden and he bonds with her. Van Alden goes to Rudolph and gives her his investigative file on Nucky.

Nucky Thompson has problems on multiple fronts. Since his brush with death he is having strange dreams and getting little sleep. Margaret Schroeder is worried about her sick daughter and the safety of Nucky and her family after the shooting. Esther Randolph continues to build the legal case against him. He confirms that Jimmy Darmody is behind the assassination attempt. Finally his father, Ethan Thompson, dies. Nucky takes advice from Johnny Torrio and Arnold Rothstein and decides to feign retirement and go to Ireland to raise funds for a counterattack. He asks Chalky White to orchestrate a strike by African American workers while he is gone...

Nucky Thompson and Owen Sleater visit Belfast, Ireland to offer the Irish Republican Army (IRA) the US Army’s surplus Thompson sub-machine guns. Nucky wants whiskey in exchange in order to gain funds for his own war. John McGarrigle turns down the proposal because of impending negotiations for peace with the English government. The other leaders of the IRA are less keen to end their struggle for independence and have McGarrigle assassinated allowing them to accept Nucky’s deal. Nucky is concerned that Sleater did not make him aware of this plot and then distressed by a telegram from Margaret Schroeder. Prosecutor Esther Randolph continues to build her case against Nucky, interviewing a subordinate in the Sheriff's Office...

Nucky Thompson makes a strong return to Atlantic City on the bootlegging front. He floods the city with the high quality, low cost whiskey but is deflated when he cannot get his trial moved back to town. He fires his attorney and arranges to visit New York to hire a new lawyer. Emily Schroeder waits for test results at the hospital and Margaret continues to blame her own sins for Emily’s illness. Teddy acts out, feeling neglected with Emily unwell and Nucky offers to take him to New York. In the city he is introduced to Bill Fallon by Arnold Rothstein and hires him as his defense attorney. After the meeting Teddy reveals that he saw Nucky burn down his father’s house. While Nucky is away Margaret donates her savings and jewellery to the Catholic church to prove her devotion. On his return they meet with Emily’s doctor and he tells them that her paralysis is likely to be permanent...

Jimmy Darmody takes refuge from his grief over the murder of his wife Angela in a drug and alcohol induced haze in a hotel in Princeton. Flashbacks to 1916 depict his time attending the college. His mother Gillian comes to visit him and he takes her to a social mixer where she meets Angela, then his girlfriend. Angela tells him that she is pregnant and he agrees to move in with her and offers a jokey proposal. He drinks heavily and when Gillian is manhandled by his teacher he beats the professor up. He then takes Gillian home and falls into bed with her; the mother and son commit incest. The next day Jimmy joins the army. While Jimmy is missing his bootlegging partners threaten Mickey Doyle into paying Jimmy out of his own profits. Doyle informs Prohibition AgentNelson Van Alden of their plans to meet and divide the profits, offering to split the whole take with Van Alden but Van Alden declines the offer. Jimmy eventually returns to Atlantic City where Gillian is coolly arranging a funeral and planning their future as a family. He flies into a rage when she tells him that his son Tommy will forget Angela in a month. He tries to strangle Gillian but is stopped by The Commodore, his father. After a struggle Jimmy kills The Commodore and falls unconscious due to his injuries. He wakes to find Richard Harrow cleaning up the scene and drifts back to sleep. He is woken again by Gillian who has brought Tommy down for reassurance. She tells him that she wants to forget what he did and promises that things will get better...

Jimmy Darmody attempts to make amends for his betrayal of Nucky Thompson, despite knowing that Nucky will never forgive him. He is aided by Richard Harrow. They end the African American workers strike by kidnapping the Ku Klux Klan members responsible for the raid on Chalky White’s warehouse and delivering them to Chalky along with compensation for the families of the men killed in the raid. Jimmy asks Chalky to arrange a meeting with Nucky. At the meeting he says that he wants to make things right, explains his reasons for the betrayal and asks what he can do to help Nucky. Nucky demands insight into the assassination attempt and Jimmy lays the blame on Eli Thompson. Nucky asks him to sabotage the legal case against him which includes charges of election rigging and the murder of Hans Schroeder. Jimmy settles The Commodore’s estate, destroying his will to ensure that he will inherit it. He is careful to check that it will pass to his son in the event of his death. Jimmy fails to convince his co-conspirators to implicate Eli instead of Nucky. He has Harrow murder Jim Neary on the eve of the trial. They force Neary to write a statement implicating Eli at gunpoint before staging his death as a suicide...

Nucky Thompson plans a lavish Egyptian themed party at his home to see out 1922. He brings his mistress Billie Kent, posing as a dancer. Tension still runs high in his marriage over Margaret donating a swathe of valuable land to the church. Gillian Darmody has converted The Commodore's lavish home into a brothel and employed Richard Harrow as a "caretaker". Harrow kills Manny Horvitz unexpectedly. New York gangsters flock to Nucky's party, including volatile Gyp Rosetti. Rosetti is enraged when Nucky announces that he will supply Arnold Rothstein exclusively. Turf disputes in Chicago heat up between Irish mobster Dean O'Banion and Al Capone. Fugitive Nelson Van Alden is posing as salesman Mr. Mueller. He is frustrated at work and stumbles into a confrontation between O'Banion and Capone and impresses O'Banion.

Samuel Crawford proproses to Chalky White's daughter, Maybelle, who is unsure. She brings him to Chalky's jazz club where a man slashes his face with a switchblade. Chalky has the knife wielder beaten to a bloody pulp. Eli Thompson is released from prison and is disappointed when Mickey Doyle picks him up and takes him to Tabor Heights to deliver payoffs. The town is Mickey's customary bootlegging refueling point, half way between Atlantic City and New York. Eli is welcomed home by his family and, seeing their need, reluctantly goes to work for Mickey. Rosetti buys the Tabor Heights gas station and pickets the street with armed men blocking the shipment. Margaret investigates the paucity of health education for pregnant women. Nucky visits New York, staying with Billie and delivering a payoff to Gaston Means.

Nucky tries to appease Gyp and end the blockade of his shipments but inadvertently insults him. Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky try to complete a heroin deal but are attacked by Joe Masseria's men. Richard takes responsibility for Manny's murder to Nucky and clarifies that it was revenge for Angela Darmody. Van Alden fears recognition when he is caught in a speakeasy raid but is allowed to pay his way free. Margaret uses Nucky receiving the St. Gregory's Award to manipulate support for her planned women's clinic. Nucky is troubled by nightmares and hallucinations relating to killing Jimmy and desperately seeks solace with Billie.

Nucky orders his bootleggers to avoid Tabor Heights and restarts the search for Rowland Smith, annoyed that his crew are looking to Owen Sleater for leadership. They track Smith to his hideout but are trapped there with him when corrupt Philadelphia Prohibition Agents raid the place. As they hide in the basement, Smith tries to charm Nucky into giving him a job. When the feds leave Nucky kills Smith himself, reestablishing his power for Owen. Mickey is desperate to supply Rothstein and ignores Nucky's order over Eli's protests. Eli scouts ahead and realizes that an ambush is being set-up but is unable to spare the convoy. Margaret begins advertising the women's clinic. Luciano is summoned to negotiate with Masseria. Capone faces his son being bullied at school and murders Joe Miller after Miller attacks Jake Guzik.

Rothstein vents about Nucky's failure to deliver his liquor shipments. Nucky blames Gyp but Rothstein is reluctant to provoke Masseria. Rothstein employs Benjamin Siegel to assassinate Gyp but the hit goes awry. Nucky remains fixated on Billie and is disappointed with rehearsals of her play. He has Chalky strongarm Eddie Cantor into getting involved. Margaret stumbles across Nucky with Billie. Gillian Darmody opts to maintain her denial about Jimmy's death at the expense of her business. Van Alden and Sigrid kill a prohibition agent to protect their identities and he turns to Dean O'Banion for assistance in disposing of the body. The Attorney General's office comes under fire from Andrew W. Mellon and Means recommends the arrest of a major bootlegger to deflect the criticism.

Joining Gillian are Richard Harrow and her adviser, Leander, as the body of the man Gillian claims to be Jimmy is cremated. In reality, it was the man who looked like her son, Roger, whom Gillian drugged and drowned.

News gets around that Jimmy has died, and Nucky seems a bit confused, since it was he who shot Jimmy at the end of season two. Nucky pays a visit to Gillian to offer his condolences. She tells the story about how he returned home from “one of his excursions” and had a substance abuse problem. Nucky goes along with the story until she tosses a drink in his face, accusing him of killing her son. He tells her the only reason she exists is because he is in town...

Reeling from Gyp’s most recent attack, Nucky vows to eliminate his nemesis through a coalition of familiar partners. In Washington, the arrest of a high-profile bootlegger puts Daugherty and Jess Smith on the hot seat. Emily gets a scaled-down birthday party; Gillian blames an absent Harrow for Tommy’s latest misadventure; Gyp decides to buy a town’s silence; Broadway mourns a fallen star...

February 1924. Nucky, preferring to stay in his room up in the Albatross Hotel and away from the boardwalk, comes to a peace agreement with Masseria and Rothstein. Richard, on his way home to reunite with his sister, leaves some corpses in his wake. Gillian, still an addict but desperate to get her grandson back, is resorting to prostitution until a stranger shows up with a better offer. Revenue Agent Sawicki's new partner, Warren Knox, isn't as naive as he acts. Chalky tries to coolly run the Onyx Club, but his right-hand man, Dunn Purnsley, gets into a mess of trouble with a booking agent and his wife.

Chalky is pressured by Valentin Narcisse, a Harlem kingpin who knows what Dunn did. At home, Van Alden must deal with his stubbornly middle-class wife; at work, he has to deal with an angry Al Capone. Knox's true boss, it turns out, is J. Edgar Hoover. Before he leaves for Florida to visit an old friend, Nucky has to placate a frustrated Eddie and gives him a promotion. Valentin Narcisse puts an end to the conflict with the booking agent's wife by having her killed by his men.

While in Tampa visiting Bill McCoy, Nucky becomes intrigued by Sally Wheet, a local bar owner. Roy has Gillian pretend to be his wife. Narcisse meets with Rothstein and, later, books singer Daughter Maitland for the Onyx Club. For a party at college, Eli's son Willy tries to finagle some booze from Mickey's warehouse. Richard finds himself in some trouble and his sister comes to his aid.

Federal agents close in on Nucky's ring. Narcisse recruits Dunn. Val Alden learns that Al and Frank Capone are more brutal jokers than O'Banion. Willy's revenge prank goes horribly wrong. Rothstein's way of dealing with his bad luck at the card table leads Nucky to make Lansky his partner in the Florida scheme. After a night on the town with Ralph Capone, Eddie pays for it in the morning when he's arrested by Knox.

Knox torments Eddie and reveals his dark past, pushing him to betrayal. Willy, arrested over the death of schoolmate Henry Gaines, phones Nucky. Gillian, desperate to regain custody of Tommy but losing her grip, turns to Dunn for a fix. Van Alden's enlisted by Frank and Al Capone to bust some Democrat supporters' heads; Frank's gunned down by deputized Chicago agents. Nucky has Willy stick to a false alibi, pays off the Philadelphia DA to free him, and leaves him with some avuncular advice shortly before Willy's roommate is arrested for Gaines' death. Eddie, back at the Albatross and guilt-ridden about betraying Nucky's trust, jumps out of his window to his death.

Nucky and Margaret have a strained meeting at Penn Station before he travels down to Florida. While investigating Eddie's death, Eli finds Eddie's key for the safety-deposit box at the bank, but isn't allowed access to it. Richard returns and comes across Paul Sagorsky after he's just received stark news from his doctor. Chalky draws closer to Daughter Maitland. Knox, pretending to be a Prohibition agent again, returns to Mickey's warehouse but can't escape Eddie's shadow. In Tampa, Nucky, Lansky, and Luciano meet with a new partner whom Bill's brought in. Julia tells Richard what she needs. Nucky gets into more than just business with a feisty, hard-drinking Sally.

As news of Leopold and Loeb's arrest hits the papers, Al Capone, still in a raging grief over Frank's death, kills a policeman. Rothstein runs into Margaret at her work, which is not entirely above-board. Dunn deals with the church's concern about his heroin in the community. Willy drops out of college - infuriating his father - and turns to Nucky for work. After Johnny Torrio's arrested in a police raid on a distillery that he just bought from O'Banion, he gives Capone the go-ahead to kill the Irishman. Roy helps Gillian kick her habit but confesses to an obsession of his own. Agent Knox is actually Jim Tolliver, as Gaston Means has secretly known all along. Daughter Maitland reveals that her true allegiance is to Dr. Narcisse - not Chalky - for horribly personal reasons.

Tolliver hears about Willy's evasion of the law and pursues Eli as his means to ending Nucky's empire. Chalky busts up one of Narcisse's drug houses, with two-faced Dunn along for the show. Nucky's unpleasantly surprised when Sally rides up to Atlantic City with the new bootlegging delivery from Tampa. Narcisse employs Daughter Maitland to waylay Chalky, but she can't bring herself to let Dunn kill Chalky and she stabs Dunn fatally in the back instead.

Gillian opens up to Roy; Julia proposes to Richard. Eager to assert his power at home, Van Alden tells Capone he'll kill O'Banion, but old business gets in the way. Narcisse punishes Daughter for her betrayal, pushing Chalky towards a war Nucky refuses to join. After other mobsters kill O'Banion at his shop counter, Van Alden takes $1000 over his dead body. Rothstein negotiates an insurance plan with Nucky. Chalky's daughter Maybelle discovers her father's affair with Daughter. Newlywed Richard asks Nucky for a job.

Sally discovers heroin being slipped into shipments by Luciano and Lansky, at Masseria's behest. Chalky fails to kill Narcisse and is wounded. Margaret does an insider-deal for Rothstein in return for new lodgings. Capone, while trying to nudge Torrio into retirement, is saved by Van Alden from a tommy-gun ambush. Despite Tolliver's turning of Eli, Hoover's still uninterested in scotching the bootleggers' network. Nucky is forced into a deal with Narcisse after learning he is Masseria's partner on the heroin pipeline. Nucky promises Chalky to Narcisse but tells Mayor Bader to have cops slip Chalky out of town; too late, though, he discovers through Willy that Bader is in Narcisse's pocket. Chalky and Daughter narrowly escape the cops' clutches; Narcisse eyes Maybelle; Nucky, Eli, and Willy gather to decide the Thompsons' next move.

Chalky and Daughter arrive at Havre de Grace to stay with Oscar Boneau, his old mentor. Gillian says goodbye to Tommy and looks forward to a life with Roy when he proposes to her. Knox pressures Eli to set up a meeting between the East Coast bosses in the network. Chalky wakes to find Daughter gone; some of Narcisse's men descend on the house, killing blind Oscar before being killed by his men. Gillian is tricked by Roy, who is actually a Pinkerton agent, into confessing to her killing of Roger. Nucky agrees to the peace-brokering meeting that Eli suggests but he realises Knox is the "skunk in his cellar" that Gaston Means had referred to in a phone call, and that he's turned Eli.

Chalky confronts Nucky at gunpoint and demands they get rid of Narcisse. Richard asks Nucky to disclose the location of Jimmy's body to keep Gillian in jail; in return, Nucky employs him for a hit. Richard sends Julia, Tommy, and Paul to his sister's. Nucky tells Narcisse that Chalky wants to meet. After an attempt on Torrio narrowly fails, he hands over his entire operation to Capone. Knox/Tolliver sets up an eavesdrop for the big meeting but no one shows; Eli's called to the Albatross, where Nucky puts a gun to his head until Willy intervenes. Tolliver confronts Eli in his home; they fight and Eli beats him to death. Chalky meets Narcisse at the Onyx but his bluff of providing Daughter's whereabouts is met by Narcisse's revelation that he has his daughter Maybelle. From his sniper position, Richard hesitates long enough that, when he pulls the trigger, Maybelle has moved to the table and into the shot; she is killed and Richard is mortally wounded by one of Narcisse's men. Narcisse is arrested and turned by Hoover into an informant on Marcus Garvey. Chalky retreats to Havre de Grace. Nucky sends Eli off to Chicago, where he is met by Van Alden. Richard, imagining his reunion with his new family in Wisconsin, dies peacefully under the pier.

Season 5 opens in 1931 with Nucky in Cuba, where he presses a U.S. senator on the likelihood of Prohibition's repeal and eyes a future business deal with a rum magnate. Meanwhile, Margaret witnesses a casualty of the Great Depression on Wall Street; Luciano makes a bold career move; Chalky catches a break to get out of a bad situation; and in a flashback to 1884, a young Nucky makes an impression on the Commodore.

Margaret finds herself in a pickle due to her dealings with the late Arnold Rothstein when his widow starts snooping around his affairs. Meanwhile, Chalky wonders where his latest partnership is going; Nucky talks shop with a prominent businessman from Boston; Luciano and Siegel try to strike a deal with Narcisse in Harlem; and in 1884, a young Nucky works hard at the hotel and catches the eye of a girl who's vacationing with her parents.

Nucky Thompson is forced to remain in Atlantic City when heavy rain prevents him flying to Cuba. He spends the time reconnecting with his wife, Margaret. Flashbacks to his childhood in 1884 follow him introducing his brother to the wealthy tourist lifestyle he briefly observed while working for the Commodore before his summer job ended. Nucky and Eli are caught trespassing in a room at the Corner Hotel by Sheriff Lindsay. He takes pity on them and brings them home for a meal with his family. While Nucky is out of the country political unrest in Cuba grows and Sally Wheet runs afoul of the military while looking after Nucky's interests.

Al Capone flaunts his notoriety when Charlie Luciano visits Chicago to propose a criminal coalition. Luciano recognises Nelson Van Alden and exposes his identity but Van Alden convinces Capone to spare his life. Luciano's visit frustrates Capone and he brutally murders a subordinate shortly after Luciano leaves, then calls Nucky to warn him that Luciano is a threat.

Chalky returns to Atlantic City with vengeance on his mind. Concerned about the ongoing threat from Luciano , Nucky arranges a meeting with Maranzano in New York. In Chicago, Eli's reunion with June takes an unexpected turn after a dinner party hosted by Van Alden and Sigrid . Capone looks to relocate his operation out of Chicago; Margaret completes a deal with Carolyn Rothstein ; Nucky gets bad news from Cuba. In 1897, young Nucky looks to win over Mabel's father while asking for expanded responsibilities as deputy sheriff.

Chalky runs into Narcisse in Harlem with a plan to set Daughter free. Meanwhile, Nucky mingles with a different crowd when he tries to drown his sorrows in alcohol; and in Chicago, the Feds tap Eli and Nelson to help them neutralize the Capone empire. Also: A young Nucky complains to Mabel about his endorsement of Jim Neary, and teams up with Eli to catch a thief in 1897.

With his holdings in Atlantic City lost, Nucky Thompson takes a swim in the ocean. Due to Nucky's manipulation of the stock market, Joseph Kennedy's business associates are nervous that repeal will not happen, and begin unloading their shares. Kennedy suspects Nucky's involvement and visits Margaret Thompson. She convinces Kennedy to short sell his own shares. Margaret meets Nucky to inform him of her success, and they share a dance but are interrupted by a realtor. Nucky returns to Atlantic City, intending to settle his affairs before leaving. He meets Eli, gives him some money, and encourages him to return to his family. He then meets Gillian in the sanitarium, telling her the most he can do is set up a trust fund for her when she is released and that he is not sure what she wants from him. Gillian is withdrawn and has been forcibly sterilized.

In New York, Luciano and Lansky gather crime bosses from New York and all around the country and form the Commission, a singular body will mediate relations between all crime organizations in the country. Luciano also tasks Bugsy with killing Narcisse, and he is publicly assassinated in front of his church. In Chicago, Capone is served a court summons when the authorities manage to obtain his ledgers. While he publicly boasts that the charges of tax evasion won't stick, Capone says goodbye to his son before heading to court, where D'Angelo is waiting for him.

In 1897, Deputy Nucky is shocked to find out that Mabel has miscarried. Eli summons Nucky home, where he sees that his father has hit his mother again. Nucky and his father fight and Nucky warns that there will be consequences if harm were to come to his mother again. After returning to Atlantic city, Nucky notices Gillian participating in a parade. The Commodore fires Nucky but offers to reinstate him as Sheriff, if he delivers Gillian to him. Nucky reluctantly approaches Gillian, telling her that the Commodore is willing to take her in, and promising that he will take care of her.

In 1931, Nucky comes across Joe Harper again. Harper reveals that his real name is Tommy Darmody, Jimmy's son and Gillian's grandson. Tommy shoots Nucky three times before being restrained by the police. As Nucky lays on the ground dying, he sees a vision of a younger version of himself swimming in the ocean and catching a coin.